Things and Stuff

that ive been doing since the last update...having a lot of fun!

some studies of robert johnson fun!

wip

Birdz

happy new year, hope everyone is as excited as I am about the upcoming cycle of time that we've decided upon.

I have about 5 finished works ive done recently but I can't show any apart from this one. Hope you guys like it. the scan sucks, i wish i could show you it in real life, sorry! :(

Still haven't finished with the series, lots of other pictures i want to explore but will post other art so you don't get sick of it :P

The website  has been updated (thanks Lindsay!) with info about exhibitions under the "see" section and an all new "shop" section, yay! More coming soon...

Cheers!

heres the line sketch (had to redraw/change a lot of stuff but it was really helpful as a starting point)

i did a few pages of thumbnails like this to try and work out the design and stuff, but even still i changed it a  lot in the final piece.

some studies i did of different things for another painting that I did

hi

well last week was a disaster- had to bin a drawing i worked really hard on, so that sucked.

since sunday though ive managed to work on the following stuff.

wip

dream hug

  just various touch ups on this piece the most obvious being shifted the some temperature shifts in areas but i think it made a difference, though you can tell more in person

its a3 size, though maybe i will transfer this for a large painting.

Please take the time to see the larger version by clicking it (opens a new window)

offering

A3 drawing ive done, might work on it a bit more...i hate what the scanner does to drawings, they really need to be seen in real life it looks better i swear :(
also included in the prelim in case anyone's interested.
cheers
clicks open in new window.

plug it!

hello hello!


Some of my online art friends have been posting some kickass inspiration blogs which are updated daily and are a feast of glorious eye candy, sleazerotica, painterly delights and jaw droppingly curvaceous line pushing!

Some of these may not be safe for work due to nudity/whatever, so be careful but enjoy the thrill if you are at a risk of being caught ;)

**Ville Ericsson's Dirty Turps**

**Clo's Empty Pool**

Here are a few more that I enjoy:

**Illuminate the world**

**Skinny Love**

**Decapitate animals (no animals were decapitated in the making of this blog)**

**amusing blog of carniverous plants!!**

Thanks to Rafa Sarmento for tipping me off to this AMAZING artist  **Giacomo Favretto (1849-1887)**

Also Connor Dejong sent me a link to a whole bunch of michelangelo art he uploaded, so go download those photos here

If you know of any more, please share them in the comments section,

Phew, after all that you can't help but go and create! Inspiration is a cup never filled!


Soooo anyway, heres a drawing i worked on sat/sun. didnt get as much done as i wanted but oh well! Definitely enjoying it though, can't wait to give it more lovin'

Mermaid progress

here is a progress of a commission...

The client wants there to be a circle around the mermaid formed by her tail and she will be holding a sword and shield.

Still a long way to go, it's been quite challenging but I am trying to keep is soft and not push the contrast too far except perhaps the head, keeping the rest in a closer tonal range.
I'm using about 5 different photos for ref so bear with me as I try to make a cohesive image :P

Cheers.

Guitarist progress

Been working on this in my spare time. I guess its maybe 3 or so days work.

tentacle woman

here's a progress shot. Don't really feel like I want to work on it anymore- feeling a bit burnt out on it- although I am excited how it's going.

Probably work on it again in a couple of days time.

When drawing the figure i usually use straight lines that are slightly bent, so as to find the quickest route from point A to B, and so if it's wrong I can erase it easily, whereas if I drew every subtle undulation I would get too precious. It's really hard to get proportions, but it's crucial.
I usually add the variations in the outline at the very end. This is important because sometimes the halftone shapes inside the outline can give the illusion that its curving a lot- a lot of masterworks generallly can have a very simple outline but incredibly intricate shadow/halftone shapes inside the form, which give the illusion of it being quite curvy and undulated.

more

got a bit busy with things but here is another couple hours work.
messing around and trying out colours, composition, etc. not committing to too much at this stage.

Progress

hey all, knocked out a bit more on this today, had to work sun/mon.

top is after acrylic wash, bottom is before.

Going to work into the wash now and add the foreground elements- she is summoning some flowers that will be coming out of the barren soil!

Today

Just got around to starting a new drawing today. Yesterday's efforts were a TOTAL abortion, just had a shocking day and started about 4 new works, none of which worked and were all subsequently scrapped.
finally got to a good rhythm today, and managed to salvage what would have been a wasted weekend.
gotta work tomorrow, bummer!!

And body in progress, just tweaking the theme of the last one into a slightly different direction- she will be manifesting some 'flowers' coming out of that dirt in the final.





Head- spent some time fixing it up and making some improvments, unifying elements and strengthening with more acrylics + rendering.

Segments

Firstly here is a work in progress, did this once I got home from work. Can't wait to get this one finished- I am really happy with the ideas and their subsequent manifestation in visual and metaphorical form, which I will explain once it's done. For now though, I will only post up a segement, the nude figure.
The second image is just an experiment with coloured pencils.

Garden Sketch.

today's efforts.
Work tomorrow...guuuughhhhhhhhh

Rapture

further experimentation with oil pastel and pencil combinations, still searching for the atmosphere and mood that I'm after. Hope you dig it!
The scanner makes pastel looks so harsh which is VERY frustrating, as it is much softer in real life, i swear!!! It's the main reason I use it...



quick sketch

Flower

This one is just an experimental combination of a few different styles. I have learnt a lot and feel confident in taking the themes and technique further with the next one. It was about 2 days work, about 30 by 50 cm.

The principle theme is the relationship between humans and technology and the possible fusion between spiritual transcendence and the “technium.” It is inspired by the writings of Kevin Kelly, Mark Pesce, Terrence Mckenna and many others. I particularly like the plant metaphor for technology (broad term: includes language, culture, etc.) as it describes quite nicely the synergistic relationship between us and what we create (and what we try to control, etc.).
Of particular interest as well is information theory and how this is shaping our world view and our humanity.

I will probably think about what needs to be fixed and come back to it in the next couple of days to fix up and refine things, although I am super excited to start a new one, going to explore people fusing into machine driven pulsating trees and maybe use car engines or refineries but fuse them with organic shapes and patterns or something.

PS I really need to get a new scanner!! any suggestions y'all? cheers




Some progress shots:

Moar

it has been a very productive and focused week.

finished a new one, well almost, but I think I want to leave this slightly unfinished. I am quite happy, as I managed to get an idea that has been floating around in my head, or more of how I wanted it to feel.

This is only half of it, there is a bottom half- I will wait till I can get a photo of the whole as it is too large to scan in its entirety.

Head after a few hours- just mainly focusing on placing tonal shapes in the right spot- the shape and general edge will give the likeness. Trying hard to get it to look structured. This was a real challenge. Keeping hair and light area as the paper tone. using straight lines mostly.



Then finished version- tried to fix any drawing errors, modelled a few more planes, tried to soften areas on cheek and chin, to get more variety in edges.
I learnt from sargent and my teachers to unify the lights in one consistent tone- so I used a white pastel and connected it from the nose up to the hair on top, focusing on its distinct shape and character.
One thing I am struggling with but enjoying trying to introduce is this sort of simplifying, which is so hard to get right!! but if you can it gives the drawing a much fresher look.



Finished the previous one, only took a couple of days more to finish it. Learnt a LOT in terms of how the pastel and pencil interacts together, and learnt a lot of "do nots" in general. It was really just one big experiment for me, and I'm glad I did it. It's about 45 by 60 cm.

Fleshing it out

I think I will try update this at least everyday, although some days i have work so i might post something else instead to keep it going...its kind of fun to share process images, of which i have quite a few anyway...

planning to get a photo up later tomorrow with the whole image. it wont be as clear as this scan but it should hopefully give an idea as to where this silly thing is going.

tomorrow i'm hoping to get a lot done- finish off the monster and get started on the figure, which will be really really tough by the looks of it, so should be a good challenge!!

cheers

Couldn't resist

Got home from work and needed to do a little bit more before bed.

Response to Ian's question: I am using pencil for the bulk of the rendering and trying to add in touches of oil pastels, usually at quite a similar tone to the paper (ochre, terre verte, light pink oranges, purples, light yellow, etc.)
at this stage just placing where the lightest lights are, what parts are diffuesd light, etc. going to be tricky to keep the monster in consistency with the image's light source....
soorry if ive babbled too much.

just worked on head a bit more, around eyes, etc. and started up the monster. wish i had an A3 scanner, but can only scan a small part of the image each time..

will keep this updated as it progresses!!

thanks!!

Face part2

ok thats enough for me, time for a beer and then sleep. I have work for the next 2 days, so expect an update on tuesday night, if anyone is watching this space :)

Progress on Face

Going to try update this thing a few times a week, seeing as I have the website for my finished work, i can flood this one with progress shots and things.

This is very early start- and only about 1/4 of the total image.

just trying to keep everything light and clean while i adjust proportions, etc. before i dive into full on rendering.

cheers